


Daniel in the Den

by katydidmischief (cassiejamie)



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Community: avengerkink, Gen, Kink Meme, M/M, Movie Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 15:13:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1554827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiejamie/pseuds/katydidmischief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexander Pierce knows from these things that it could be tricky to get Fury to see how he's standing on the wrong side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daniel in the Den

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this prompt](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/19023.html?thread=43992399#t43992399).

In Bogota, Nick proves that he is more than some bureaucrat—

_The Strike Team enters and winds their way through the hallways in total silence; they swiftly take down those who would seek to stop them until they reach the area the terrorists have made their base of operations._

_It's a slaughter, half the guys on the Strike Team grinning as they take down person after person who stands between them and the door to the hostages. If anyone were to see their faces, they might even call the men positively gleeful._

_A slaughter in less than a minute._

_The door to the hostages' holding room is flung open: no one is there._

_When they get back to base, bewildered that there had been a secondary op run, they find Nick Fury pulling into the compound with several SUVs behind him._

_Pierce learns to never doubt Nick again._

—and when he climbs the ranks, he does it with a style that is both ruthless and loyal. He brings in agents like Coulson and Hill, keeps the Widow from being killed and Barton from being locked up; he courts their loyalty and their friendship, but is not afraid to use their skills, intelligence, or allure to get the results SHIELD needs. He talks about teams of people who can be called on for specific problems every time they go out to drink.

Alexander Pierce knows from these things that it could be tricky to get Fury to see how he's standing on the wrong side, cursing when he walks to through the HYDRA exhibit in the Smithsonian or cursing even louder when SHIELD scientists explain that their latest invention came from old HYDRA tech. He longs to bring Nick over to their side for those reasons: good men are hard to come by, even if they believe they're doing the right thing when they're not.

It becomes his favorite long-game play, Pierce thinking of delicate wording and subtle ways to show Nick that they're the same. That he could have so much more if he comes to the side that will ultimately win, if only in time.

Through this all, however, Howard Stark has stood near Nick's side, whispering advice and thoughts at him. Like the angel and the devil on his shoulders, Nick has the two people with the occasional conflicting ideas and eventually, Pierce realizes that Stark is sowing suspicion in Fury's mind.

Well, that just won't stand.

(He goes to the New York vault dressed in his tuxedo, the benefit at the Maria Stark Foundation starting within the hour. He orders, “I need him on his feet in three hours.”

Lukin is not pleased. “It takes a minimum of six to get him ready.”

“You have three,” he repeats, then hands over a file folder with pictures and an itinerary. “Any more than three and he won't be able to take down someone I know you have a personal interest in.”

“Really?” the sarcasm drips from Lukin and he takes the folder, glancing at the contents for a few moments before a slow, sickeningly content smile graces his lips. “Well then, three hours.”)

Howard's death galvanizes Nick. Oh, he grieves, he's angry, but it only makes him even more convinced as to the righteousness of SHIELD and Pierce resumes his gradual conditioning. It's years of it and when Nick asks that he take a place on the council, Alexander knows he has been accepted as the confidante and friend he's always appeared to be.

Then Howard Stark's boy comes flying out of the desert in a metal suit and Nick's ideals shift, a tiny one but enough that when Stark nearly dies fighting his own mentor at his own company, Pierce knows it won't be long before he'll have to drag the asset out to take care of another Stark.

He also knows, in that moment, as Nick talks about a team of people like Iron Man and Captain America, that his window to bring Nick over to their side is closing:

“Imagine it,” Nick is saying, looking out his office window, “An entire team of individuals who could handle everything we can't.”

Pierce literally wants to vomit at the confidence he has in such a possibility, and he thinks of the Soldier, the videos from long ago, from before they could wipe his mind, and how he disobeyed orders, fought them. He can only imagine the turmoil an entire team of uncontrolled assets could cause.

But he manages to sound convincing when he says, “You should draw up a plan for it. Start doing analysis of potential members of this team,” because, after all, there is only one person they both know Nick is absolutely sure he wants on that team and it'll never happen.

Captain America is long gone, his remains lost in the ice and the snow and the cold.

He goes back to the game. He presses harder, asking questions that are also suggestions to the subconscious, and continues to wait, tasting the payoff whenever he thinks of Nick being at his side in the New World Order. Won't that be something beautiful? In more imaginative moments, he even thinks that perhaps Nick will be his right-most hand, the Vice President to his President.

Sentiment isn't part of HYDRA, but it's part of Pierce and he's accepted it.

Things are status quo for a while, Nick vested in his operations and in monitoring and Pierce talking with him about the Council and other issues, until Coulson starts eating up more and more of Nick's time with some mission that he simply refuses to share.

Pierce grins at that: a man devoted to Nick is a man they could potentially use. His love for Captain America is something of a complication, but Alexander knows that love is fickle and ideals can be changed. Still, that's time he needs to condition the man toward HYDRA.

He sends Coulson some collectible cards—not all of them—and watches as Coulson starts to actually leave the building for his apartment in the evening. Some passions are more consuming than others and Pierce files away the urge to collect in his mental Phil Coulson file, noting it as a potential strength, probable weakness.

But Nick remains elusive, taking off for parts unknown with Coulson, leaving Hill in charge, and when he returns some time later, he has a smirk on his face that is almost inhuman.

He comes to Alexander's office on that day, fixes himself a drink, settles onto the couch, and with a pride in his voice that Pierce had never heard, says:

“I found him.”

The window slams so hard the glass rattles and Alexander feels his heart drop through his feet, knowing in that moment that he's lost Nick in every way possible.

He swallows around the lump in his throat and replies, “Amazing, Nick.”


End file.
